GKidz Barnabas Club Servant Leadership Lesson 11: A Servant Leader Sacrifices with Love

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1 GKidz Barnabas Club Servant Leadership Lesson 11: A Servant Leader Sacrifices with Love Date: 16 & 17 November 2013 Note to Leaders: At Barnabas Club, our aim is to see our children develop a conviction and commitment to follow Jesus. At the same time, we would like all Barnabas children to catch the heartbeat of serving others, by developing an awareness of the qualities of a servant leader. Bible Text: Mark 14:43-65; 15:1-15 & 1 John 4:9-12 Memory Verse: Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we should also love one another. No one has ever seen God. But if we love one another, God lives in us. His love is made complete in us. 1 John 4:11-12(NIRV) Learning Objectives: Children will learn that when we serve others, we make sacrifices out of love and not out the desire for self-recognition. Materials Needed: o In the Name of God Game Cards See Annex A (GKidz will provide) o Jesus Messiah Activity Sheet See Annex B (GKidz will provide) SMALL GROUP TIME (60 mins) A. CONNECT IN THE NAME OF GOD (10 mins) Ahead of time, cut out the cards listed in Annex A. Divide the group into 2 teams. Have one person from each team come forward to draw a card at random. When a card is drawn, there is a name of God followed by the action required stated on the card: this could be sketching out the name, acting out the name without words (like charades), or singing/humming any song with the name in it. The person who draws the card will do the required action and let the rest of the group guess the name on the card. Each turn lasts 60 seconds. If one gets stuck, he/she can skip up to 2 cards, which will be returned to the bottom of the deck. Whichever team guesses the name correctly gets to keep the card. The leader can set up a reward system to motivate the teams to win as many cards as possible. 1

2 Leader to say: We have just found out that there are so many names that people used to describe God listed in the Bible. But there is one name that we haven t talked about in our ice-breaker. The name is MESSIAH. Does anyone here know what MESSIAH means? B. INTO THE WORD (25 mins) Messiah means the anointed one ; the one God has chosen to save Israel and to save all human kind. However, the Israelites didn t catch the idea that Jesus is the chosen one sent by God. Last week, we learnt about Jesus being wise and chose not to argue or to speak up against the false accusations that were spoken against Him. He spoke up at the right time, acknowledging that He is the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One. This week, as we continue to learn from Jesus example about serving others, we want to look at how He sacrificed His life for others as an act of love. Tell the children to read Mark 14:53-65 to refresh their memory about what they learnt last week. Ask the following questions to help them dwell deeper into the passage: o When the chief priests made false accusations about Jesus, He remained silent and gave no answer for a long time. Why do you think Jesus decided to respond after He heard the priest asked him, Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One? o How did the priests respond when they heard Jesus say He was the Messiah? Share with the children that after Jesus said that He is the Messiah, the religious leaders decided that Jesus had blasphemed God and wanted to put Jesus to death. But they had to submit to the government, which is the Roman authority at that time. The Romans allowed the Jews to operate under their own religious standards, but a charge of blasphemy and a death sentence had to be approved by the Roman government. So, the religious leaders took Jesus to Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea. Have the children read Mark 15:1-5 aloud. Highlight to the children, that once again, Jesus ignored the lies of the chief priests and responded only to the truth that He is the king of the Jews. Ask the children the following question: o How is Jesus reign different from the reigns of other kings? (Ans: Many people didn t realize that Jesus kingdom was not an earthly one. 2

3 His kingdom was one people that could join through believing in Him. Jesus purpose at that time was not to rule Israel or Rome from a throne. He wanted to rule in the hearts and minds of those who accepted Him.) Have the children read Mark 15: Share with the children: Pilate wanted to keep the crowds of people happy to avoid a revolt, so he was willing to release one prisoner to them. Have the children continue reading Mark 15: Share with the children: Throughout His entire unfair trial, Jesus only responded to the truth. Although He was God and had all power and authority, He was willing to be led like a lamb to the slaughter. He did it for us. The consequence of sin is death (Romans 6:23), and Jesus knew this. He knew that His blood could cover our sin, which is why He fulfilled God s plan by sacrificing Himself. This is an act of love. TRANSITION TO GO DEEP Leader to say: How do you feel about Jesus willingness to sacrifice Himself for us? Let us take some time to reflect about what it means to have Jesus to be the King of our lives. Only when we know how much Jesus loves us, will we be able to serve others by sacrificing with love. C. GO DEEP (15 mins) Show the children a video in your small group. See for video. (Optional) Summarise the content of the video: The man in white represents God who created us and gave us the breath of life. He wanted us to have our ways in Him. Yet, man sinned and fell away from God. The different characters in black symbolize sin coming in different forms to tempt us. Death is from Satan and Satan wants us to loose all hope for life and die forever. However, God loves us so much that He would come and save us. He sent His son Jesus to come on earth to save us from being condemned by sin and from living in hopelessness. All the sins of the world were on Jesus when He died on the cross. If He didn t sacrifice His life, there would be no salvation for anyone of us. We will be condemned forever and doomed for hell. Jesus saved us, He sacrificed His life for us because He loves us. 3

4 Give every child one Jesus Messiah activity sheet. Instruct them to spend 5 minutes reflecting about the questions listed and also to write down their answers. If time permits, have 2 children share how their lives are different when they have Jesus as their Messiah. Transition to MINISTRY/APPLICATION Leader to say: Jesus was a servant leader. He came to earth to die for the people to save them. As a leader, He never tried to gain attention for Himself or wanted to be famous. His focus was to love and serve everyone. He sacrificed His life not to gain recognition but because He loves the people. Jesus example reminds us that when we make little sacrifices when we serve others, we do it not because we want recognition and appreciation, but because of our love for others. D. MINISTRY/APPLICATION (10 mins) Have the 1-2 children share about any incidents where they had to make little sacrifices while serving others. (Leader can share his/her personal testimony.) Ask the children to share any experiences where they felt that it is not worth making sacrifices to serve others because they were not appreciated or were not rewarded for doing that. Encourage them to focus on showing love so that God will be glorified instead of focusing on themselves being glorified or recognized. Share 1 John 4:9-12 with the children and encourage them to serve others with love. 9 How did God show his love for us? He sent his one and only Son into the world. He sent him so we could receive life through him. 10 What is love? It is not that we loved God. It is that he loved us and sent his Son to give his life to pay for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we should also love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love one another, God lives in us. His love is made complete in us. 1 John 4:9-12 (NIRV) Take time to pray with the children for them to be willing to make sacrifices out of love for others and for God. Reference: RIO Digital Preteens Year 1 Winter Series 4

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9 Annex B 9