Jesus Seeks and Saves. March 11, Luke 19:1 10 Zacchaeus

Transcription

1 March 11, 2018 DATE Luke 19:1 10 Zacchaeus THE BIG GOD STORY Jesus Seeks and Saves PONDER POINT Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. REMEMBER VERSE Psalm 139:23 24 Welcome and Worship (15 minutes) Begins class creating an inviting atmosphere for kids to feel welcome and engage kids in worship through singing and communion. The Big God Story (18 minutes) Creates space for children to hear God s word and prepare respond to the Holy Spirit in small groups Small Groups (20 minutes) Kids will build relationships with each other and their leaders, and respond to what they learned in the Big God Story as well as how to apply it to their lives Bless & Dismiss (4 minutes) Bless kids to send them out with a sense of peace so they can be a blessing to others. The large group room will be divided into three sections. Please help kids find which section they should sit in according to their grade: 1st- 2nd, 3rd-4th & 5th-6th. Toward the end of small group time, A/V Tech will play the 2 minute warning sound followed by a song. During or immediately following the song please regroup in the large group meeting space (not before). 5th & 6th graders can go directly to Snack Shack after small group time, rather than regrouping in the large group space. Host Administrative To Do s: Make sure no group is too large Make sure each group has enough supplies Close curtains and divider wall for small groups at 9:00 and 10:15 (and re-open after 9:00) Cue the tech when to play the 2 minute warning with song. Call names for dismissal after blessing SCHEDULE Large Group Small Group 2 Min Warn. Regroup/ Dismiss 5th-6th 1st Service (9:00) 9:00 9:33 9:53 10:00 2nd Service (10:15) 10:15 10:48 11:08 11:15 3rd Service (11:30) 11:30 12:03 12:23 12:30 1

2 GOAL: Worship & welcome is all about engaging kids and helping them enter into worship, letting them know that class has begun preparing their minds for what they are going to hear. WELCOME (Host): Stage Lights On VIDEO LOOPS: Welcome Loop, 5 Min Countdown, Welcome Image We are so glad you are here today. Welcome the kids in your own words and finish by saying, Let s all stand and hear God s word and sing our praise to Him OPENING WORSHIP SONG (Worship Leader): Turn out main overhead lights REMEMBER VERSE VIDEO WORSHIP VIDEO 1: Better Than the Best Thing WORSHIP VIDEO 2: You Are Generous Project (Host) (Direct kids to get with their groups and circle up with their small group leader before sitting down) CONNECT QUESTIONS (Host): 4 MINUTE COUNTDOWN VIDEO When was a time you looked really hard for something? Have you ever been in a big crowd of people and you couldn t see? What did you do? Have you ever climbed a tree? If yes, why? Do you think Jesus only loves people who love Him and serve Him or everybody? TIMELINE VIDEO (Storyteller) The Big God Story: Point out that what kids are about to hear is true and is recorded in the Bible. Open your Bible to the passage and leave it open and visible throughout The Big God Story. Invite kids to open their Bibles and follow along as you storytell. Children respond to what the Holy Spirit is teaching them as they reflect on the day s portion of The Big God Story. The Prayer of Release: This allows children and leaders to pause, be still, and ask God to quiet their hearts and minds. Before you pray, you might ask the kids to hold out their hands, palms up, in a spirit of releasing their worries and distractions in order to better receive what the Holy Spirit might have for them today. Then encourage the kids to quiet their voices, take a seat, and pray with you. 2

3 The Big God Story: Storytelling Video Today! Storyteller Script I m so excited to tell you today about a person whom Jesus chose to seek out and spend time with. But before we go any further, let s ask the Holy Spirit to speak truth to us today. Lead kids in a Prayer of Release to pause, be still, and ask the Holy Spirit to quiet their hearts and minds. Today we have a storytelling Video for our Big God Story. Let s give our attention to the T.V s. Tech: Cue Storytelling Video Zacchaeus community didn t like him, but Jesus saw Zacchaeus as a sinner in need of a Savior. So Jesus called Zacchaeus by name and spent time with him. By receiving this love and attention from Jesus, Zacchaeus wanted to change. He turned from his old life of sin and turned toward Jesus. While Jesus was still with Zacchaeus, He declared that He came to earth to seek and to save the lost (v. 10). We all have something in common with Zacchaeus. Because of our sins, we are all in need of the Savior. Jesus calls us by name, seeks to spend time with us, wants a relationship with us, and invites each one of us to be a part of The Big God Story. Share the story of how Jesus sought you, found you, saved you, and changed your life. Tell the kids we are going to close the Big God Story by worshipping him. Tell kids during worship they can give offering or take communion if they have made Jesus their savior and been baptized. WORSHIP VIDEO 3: Glory to God Fade out song slowly at Worship Leader s prompting. (As the song comes to a close Worship Leader tells groups to head to their small group space. Say something like, Let s continue responding to what God is teaching us as we dismiss to our small groups. Please follow your small group leader at this time. ) IMAGE: It s time for small groups Turn main overhead lights on Dismiss for small groups refer to map for small group locations At the end of small groups Tech cue: 2 minute warning with exit song, using ceiling speakers, at the host s prompting Turn speakers back to wall speakers for blessing, closing song and dismissal. 3

4 GOAL: Kids build relationships with each other and their leader as they respond to what they heard in the Big God Story. Change of Heart SUPPLIES Index card with heart (one per child) Black crayons (one per child) Crayons Toothpicks (one per child) ENGAGE Give each child a card with a heart on it. Allow them to color it. Have them use lots of different colors...see example. While the children are coloring their hearts say the following to them: Jesus can change us in forever-and-no-turning back ways. The best thing about the change that happens when we first meet Jesus is that it s only the beginning of the changes He wants to make in us every day. It s like this beautiful heart you are coloring. Because our hearts are changed, we are ready to behave differently, just as Zacchaeus did. Because Zacchaeus was changed, he took money from his own money bags to pay back everyone from whom he had stolen. He paid them back four times over! Sometimes after we know about Jesus, things happen to us and we can get attitudes that separate us from God and darken our hearts. Now have the kids take a black crayon and have them cover the heart completely marking over all the beautiful colors while you say and discuss the following: What are some things that darken our lives? Give kids an example (being sick, friends being mean, someone stealing from you ) Talk about these things until the hearts are completely covered black. Then say: When we meet Jesus, He changes our lives sometimes all at once as He did in Zacchaeus life, sometimes a little at a time. What are some ways or things we do to connect with Jesus today? (going to church, praying, reading the Bible, helping others, loving others, others loving us, memorizing God s Word, serving.etc.) Pass around the toothpicks and make sure each child has one. Have the kids take turns naming ways to meet Jesus. As a child names something, the child should use the toothpick to draw or scrape a picture scratching the black crayon to show the color underneath. Allow the kids to take their hearts home to remind them that Jesus Seeks and Saves. Jesus makes the change, and everyone around us can see the results. Just like scratching away the black, Jesus takes the hurts and disappointments in our lives and scrapes them away with His Great love for us! Let s pray and thank God that Jesus changes our lives. 4

5 GOAL: Bless kids to send them out with a sense of peace so they can be a blessing to others. CLOSING REMARKS/ANNOUNCEMENTS (Host): Wall Speakers On VIDEO LOOP: Thanks, glad you were here. BLESSING (HOST): Stand in a circle. Open a Bible and read Psalm 34:18: The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Encourage the children to link up arms, and then read the verse again over the group. Finish by speaking this blessing over the kids: May you know the God who seeks after you. May you be found in the One who provides the way back to your Heavenly Father. DISMISSAL (HOST): Choose some transition videos to play in Easy worship or play Spotify playlist Call names of kids as parent come to pick up and welcome kids who are being dropped off. Encourage parents to enter the room and encourage kids and parents to exit out the middle door (103) 5

6 When I was two years old, my dad became very ill and was told he didn t have long to live. My mom hadn t thought much about God, and my dad was a Buddhist. Now, facing this horrible news, my mom came to know God through a powerful encounter with Him. Soon my mom wanted nothing more than for her husband and family to experience the freedom she had in Christ. Everyone in my mom s community lifted up prayer after prayer for my dad s life, both physically and spiritually. And, miraculously, over time, he was healed! The doctors couldn t explain it. From that day on, my mom took our family to church every week. However, it wasn t until years later that my father would come to know Jesus. Each week he went, sat in the back, and talked to no one. Our pastor, each week, gave him a hug and said, How s my Japanese Buddhist friend doing today? It took my dad six years to come into a relationship with Jesus, but Jesus never stopped pursuing him and saved him who once was lost. Ashley Otani ROCKHARBOR Church An example of Jesus seeking and saving the lost is found in the account of Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector. Because tax collectors were known for shady dealings, they were thought of as scoundrels the lowest of the low. For Jews, Zacchaeus was especially worthless. He was a Jew working for the Roman government that Jews greatly resented. The Roman Empire hired men to collect taxes for their empire. They did not give their tax collectors a salary for this work probably because they expected the tax collectors to collect more than the required tax and keep the extra for themselves. Because Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector, he would have been entitled to a cut from all of the tax collectors below him. But Zacchaeus had been changed by his encounter with Jesus. Zacchaeus declared he would do all that the law required in the Mosaic law (the laws of God given to Moses). Leviticus 6:2 5 says that if someone cheats a neighbor out of something, he must return it and add one fifth of the value as a trespass offering. But Exodus 22:1 states that if a man steals something and is unable to return what he stole, he must pay back four times what he stole. Zacchaeus declared he would give half of [his] possessions to the poor, and if [he had] cheated anybody out of anything, [he would] pay back four times the amount (Luke 19:8). After Zacchaeus made this declaration to Jesus, he repented and turned from his sinful life. Jesus responded by saying, Today salvation has come to this house For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost (vv. 9 10) In Matthew 11:19, Jesus mentioned how people had accused Him: The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. Even if we don t fit into any of these categories, we all fit into the last category: sinners 6

7 saved by grace. Spend some time thinking about your part in God s story. How did God seek after you? How did He arrange the events in your life to bring you salvation? Take a moment to reflect on this, and thank God for seeking you out, saving you, and bringing you into relationship with Him. Next, prayerfully consider how your changed life might be a living testament to others. How will your story be told to those who are still being sought after by God? Read and ponder the beautiful words of the classic song Amazing Grace, and marvel that, I once was lost but now am found, was blind, but now I see. 7