LESSON SNAPSHOT BOTTOM LINE: Jesus can turn our sadness and hard times into joy. OBJECTIVE: Joy is the emotion that makes us feel the best, and kids will learn that when we walk with Jesus he will transform our anger, sadness, disgust, and fear into a celebration of JOY. KEY PASSAGE: Luke 19:1-9 Zacchaeus meets Jesus and finds JOY. MEMORY VERSE: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. - Deuteronomy 6:5 (NIV) SUMMARY: Life is full of emotions, and not all of them are good. When we walk with Jesus, however, we find that God works all things out for our good. Jesus will take our anger, sadness, disgust, and fear and transform them into joy. SIMPLE PRAYER: Dear God, Thank you for giving us Jesus. Take all our emotions and turn them into joy. In Jesus name, Amen
MEMORY VERSE Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. - Deuteronomy 6:5 (NIV) Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Love him with all your strength. - Deuteronomy 6:5 (NIrV) LARGE GROUP: Pick out some kids at random from the crowd and see who can recite the memory verse. Then repeat it all together. SMALL GROUP: Pair the kids off and have them recite the verse to each other.
SKIT MEET JOY ITEMS NEEDED: Two chairs A basket of candy CHARACTER BREAKDOWN: 2F CHARACTERS: Sally- A talk show host Joy Sally sits in one of two chairs on stage, set up for a talk show. SALLY: Well, kids, we ve come to the end of our series. We ve met Anger, Fear, Disgust, and Sadness. I guess that s about it, right? Did we leave anyone out? Let the kids answer back. SALLY: Are you ready to meet Joy?? Please give a big welcome to our friend, Joy! Joy enters through the audience. Play some happy dancing music, as Joy carries a basket of candy down the aisle. Joy tosses candy as she walks toward stage, giving hugs and high fives. When she reaches the stage, Joy turns and flings the rest of the candy into the crowd. Joy bounces on stage and sits down. SALLY: Wow, Joy, that was quite an entrance. JOY: Thanks, Sally, I m thrilled to be here! SALLY: I m thrilled to have you. Do you know you re the first guest to sit in the chair in weeks? JOY: You didn t have any other guests? SALLY: We had guests, but Sadness was too sad to do anything but lay on the stage, Disgust didn t like the chair, and Fear wouldn t even come on stage.
SKIT JOY: Oh those crazy emotions! Always up and down! SALLY: I think we all feel that way sometimes. One minute we re fearful, the next we re sad, then we re angry or disgusted. Over and over, life throws things at us that send us for a loop. JOY: That s so true, but you know what I ve learned? God can take those moments when we are down, and he can fill them with me! SALLY: You mean Joy? JOY: That is my name! SALLY: I think all of us would like to be Joyful all the time. If we could just be happy and upbeat all the time, life would be so much better. JOY: That s true, and when we get to Heaven, it will be sunshine and rainbows all day. Until then, we have Jesus, and we can give our sadness, our disgust, our fears, and our anger to Jesus so that he can turn them into me! Anger enters. ANGER: I can t stand it! I can t take it any more! Aaaaaaaahhhh!!! SALLY: Well, look who s back, everybody. JOY: Anger, so good to see you! SALLY: Welcome back! ANGER: What do you mean welcome back? I never left here! Do you know I ve been wandering around this place looking for the exit for the last four weeks? Four weeks I ve been trapped here! JOY: Oh you poor thing. Don t you worry. Joy is here, and Joy is going to turn Anger into ANGER: You re not turning me anything, lady! I m Anger! JOY: I know, I know, you re Anger. ANGER: But if you can get me out of here, I will be a little less angry.
SKIT SALLY: See? Joy makes everything better! JOY: Come on, Captain Grumpy, let s find the exit. ANGER: Can we also find some donuts? JOY: Of course we can. ANGER: Yippy! Joy and Anger exit. SALLY: Kids, don t let Anger, Sadness, Fear, and Disgust ruin your day. Give your emotions to Jesus, and he will give you Joy!
OBJECT LESSON OR KIDS SERMON ITEMS NEEDED: A bottle of seltzer water A tarp (if needed) What are some things that shake you up in this life? What makes you angry, sad, fearful, or disgusted? Call on a few kids to answer. Each time a kid answers, shake the bottle a little. We have all these things that shake us up every day. We get bad news, something goes wrong with a friend, we don t get our way at home, or Mom decides to serve brussel sprouts. From morning until night, some days all life does is shake us up and knock us around. But something happens when we give those bad emotions to Jesus. When we give him our fear, our anger, our sadness, and our disgust, he gives us something back. He gives us something that comes bursting forth, something brighter and more wonderful than any emotion. He gives us Joy, and when Jesus gives us Joy Open the bottle and let the water spray out. It comes bursting out of us! No matter what kind of day we are having, we can have joy. We may not always feel like dancing and singing and smiling, but even in the lowest of times, God can fill our hearts with joy. When life shakes you up this week - or even later today let Jesus help you, and watch him turn your bad times into joy!
LARGE GROUP GAME CORE MEMORY POP A SHOT ITEMS NEEDED: Balls and a basketball hoop INSTRUCTIONS: Choose two players for this game. Set up the hoop on stage. In this game, have each player take a turn seeing how many core memories (balls) they can get into the memory chute (hoop) in 30 seconds. The player who saves the most memories wins. VARIATION: A variation would be to five different colored balls (one for each emotion) and have the players race to see who can hit a basket with one of each color in the shortest amount of time. WHAT S THE POINT? God can take our memories of sadness, disgust, anger, and fear and transform them with joy.
LARGE GROUP LESSON BOTTOM LINE: Jesus can turn our sadness and hard times into joy. OBJECTIVE: Joy is the emotion that makes us feel the best, and kids will learn that when we walk with Jesus he will transform our anger, sadness, disgust, and fear into a celebration of JOY. KEY PASSAGE: Luke 19:1-9 Zacchaeus meets Jesus and finds JOY. INTRO I wonder how the emotions would look inside the head of one of the most famous people in the gospels: Zacchaeus. You remember. He was the wee little man who wanted to see Jesus. Zacchaeus was a tax collector, and we know that he intentionally cheated people out of money. People didn t like tax collectors because they were so dishonest. Zacchaeus was probably a little fearful that someone might come after him for his crooked ways. He was disgusted and angry for the way he was mistreated for being a tax collector and also being short. And he was probably very sad because he didn t have many real friends. There s one emotion missing in all this: Joy. And, in spite of being filled with anger, disgust, fear, and sadness, Zacchaeus met someone who transformed his life with joy. READ LUKE 19:1-9 MAIN POINT Last week we saw how Jesus was able to take one of the saddest moments of his life, the death of his friend Lazarus, and turn it into a moment of great joy. This week, we see that sadness isn t the only emotion that leads to great joy.
LARGE GROUP LESSON Zacchaeus was one of the most despised, unlovable characters Jesus ever met. He was a crook. He was known for stealing money from people. Any friends he had were only friends because he had money, and he likely had very little joy at all in his life. Jesus changed Zacchaeus. In one afternoon, he was transformed from a miserable, crooked little man into a generous, loving person. He gave his heart to Jesus, and he chose to not only give back every penny he had stolen, but a little more in addition. Zacchaeus gave all of himself to Jesus, and he became a man filled with joy. DRIVE IT HOME We ve all met people like Zacchaeus, people who never seem to be happy, who almost seem to like being miserable and unlovely. We ve seen people who are always angry, always disgusted, always sad, and always fearful. It s not a pleasant way to live, and people like that are never fun to be around. Jesus wants to change us from the inside out. He wants to make us over into people whose lives are filled with joy. That doesn t mean that we won t feel those other emotions ever again. We know that, anger, fear, disgust, and sadness are all a part of us. But God will help us to keep those emotions in check, and he will transform them into joy. He will give us comfort and peace when we need it, and he will put a smile back on our face in even the worst of times. When God fills us with joy, he makes us a light in this world. Just as joyful memories shine brighter than any other, our lives will be a bright light that reveals the love of Jesus. People will know that we are believers in Christ by the love we share. They will know by the kind words we offer and the little acts of kindness we do for others. Every one of us is a bundle of emotions. We have anger, sadness, fear, and disgust within us at all times. Those feelings help us filter life and understand the world around us. But they do not have to rule our lives. When we give our hearts to Jesus, he gives us joy and that joy helps us through even the worst of times. Jesus transformed a miserable little man into a generous and kind heart. If he can fill Zacchaeus life with joy, he can do it for anyone. If you ve never given your heart to Jesus, what are you waiting for? Ask Jesus to be your Savior. Ask him to be the Lord of your life. Let Jesus fill your heart with Joy. CLOSE WITH A SIMPLE PRAYER Dear God, Thank you for giving us Jesus. Take all our emotions and turn them into joy. In Jesus name, Amen
SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION (K-2ND) ICEBREAKER Is there a favorite song that always puts a smile on your face? What is it? MEMORY VERSE ACTIVITY Deuteronomy 6:5 Pair the kids off and have them recite the verse to each other. SMALL GROUP GAME/ACTIVITY Teach the kids a song about joy that has lots of hand motions and movement. Or teach them the song about Zacchaeus. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS Read Luke 19:1-9 Who was Zacchaeus? Why did no one like Zacchaeus? What kind of emotions do you think Zacchaeus had? How did Zacchaeus find joy? How can we have joy when we are sad, disgusted, angry, or fearful? SIMPLE PRAYER Dear God, Give us joy, and make us a light so that other people will see the joy inside us. In Jesus name, Amen
SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION (3-5TH) ICEBREAKER Is there a favorite song that always puts a smile on your face? What is it? MEMORY VERSE ACTIVITY Deuteronomy 6:5 Pair the kids off and have them recite the verse to each other. SMALL GROUP GAME/ACTIVITY Have the kids do their impressions of what the emotions in their heads are like. Let them draw one emotion from a hat, then act as that emotion inside of them. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS Read Luke 19:1-9 Who was Zacchaeus? What kind of person do you think Zacchaeus was before meeting Jesus? How was Zacchaeus changed by meeting Jesus? How does Jesus give us joy? What would you say to someone who is downhearted and in need of joy? How would you share Jesus with him/her? SIMPLE PRAYER Dear God, Give us joy, and make us a light so that other people will see the joy inside us. In Jesus name, Amen
POWERPOINT REVIEW GAME Multiple choice. 1. Zacchaeus was a A. wee little man. B. tax collector. C. all of the above. * 2. Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus so badly, he A. climbed a tree. * B. tried to make some friends. C. sent a messenger to get him. 3. Zacchaeus was filled with after meeting Jesus. A. anger. B. sadness. C. joy. * 4. Jesus can transform into joy. A. all of our emotions* B. sadness and anger C. only sadness 5. We will have unlimited joy when we. A. watch Inside Out. B. give our heart to Jesus. * C. let our other emotions take over.
5 Simple Ways You Can Make This Lesson Stick With Your Kids THIS WEEK S LESSON: JOY IN THE CAR: Ask your child what they learned about this week on the drive home: Today we talked about Joy. Joy is the emotion that makes us feel the best, and we learned that when we walk with Jesus he will transform our anger, sadness, disgust, and fear into a celebration of JOY. Luke 19:1-9 Zacchaeus meets Jesus and finds JOY. HANGING OUT: Make this week s lesson real: Is there someone in your life going through a hard time? Get together with the kids and plan something nice for that person, something that will give him joy. Pray for God to spread joy through your good works, and be on the look out for that joy to overflow from you and your kids as well. AT DINNER: Here are some great discussion starters: - Who was Zacchaeus? - How did Zacchaeus become a joyful person? - Is there anything or any emotion that Jesus can t turn into a celebration of joy? AT BEDTIME: Quiz your child on this week s memory verse: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. - Deuteronomy 6:5 (NIV) PARENT TIME: What you need to know: Joy is different from happiness. Real joy is an inner peace that comes from knowing Jesus, knowing we are saved, and knowing that God is with us. Pray for your kids to experience true joy, and pray that God will fill your house with joy this week.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. - Deuteronomy 6:5 (NIV) Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. - Deuteronomy 6:5 (NIV) Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. - Deuteronomy 6:5 (NIV) Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. - Deuteronomy 6:5 (NIV) CUT ON DASHED LINE
CRAFT ACTIVITY Have the kids make little bottles of Joy to take home. You can start with empty bottles of Joy dish detergent, or any small clear bottles. Fill them with different color sand and make sand art inside. Encourage the kids to put these on their shelves as a reminder that Jesus can give them joy.