The Ten Lepers Luke 17:11-19 January 22, 2012 ON OUR PLATE TODAY The children will learn: The story of the ten lepers who were healed by Jesus. That only one leper came back to thank Jesus for healing him. That God wants us to be thankful. ACTIVITY As the kids enter, greet them and give each one a small candy (or a few pieces). Make a mental note of how many said thank you. You can bring your observations up later in the lesson. small candies GAME Play this easy, funny game to help introduce today s Bible story. You ll need 10 paper plates for this game. Write a really small Thank You on the back of only one of them. Use a crayon or a pen but not a marker, because you don t want it to show through. Give one a plate to 10 kids. One of them will have the plate that says Thank You, but that person will not announce it to everyone. No one should know who has the Thank You plate. 10 paper plates At the signal the 10 kids will pass their plates to each other. They don t have to do it in any specific order or down a line, just as long as everyone is giving a plate to someone else. As they are exchanging plates, over and over, every time someone receives a plate from someone else, the receiving person will say, Thank You. The ONLY time anyone ever says You re welcome is the person who has just handed off the Thank You plate. The kids will keep passing their plates to each other, saying Thank You when they receive a plate, and watching to see if they get the Thank You plate. Remind them that they are only to say, You re welcome when they give someone the Thank You plate. It will be confusing with everyone passing plates and saying Thank You all at once, and it will be difficult for the kids in the audience to tell who Copyright 2010 KidzMatter Ministries Inc. All Rights Reserved. 1 www.kidzmatter.com
has the Thank You plate. When the leader signals, everyone will stop passing and stand still with their plates. The kids in the audience will take turns guessing who has the Thank You plate. Only one of you had the actual Thank you plate. Was it hard to tell who had it? How could you tell who had it? In our Bible story today, 10 men who had a horrible disease had something incredible happen, and their lives were changed in a split second! When they met Jesus, He changed them! What reaction do you think the 10 men had? Do you think they said Thank you! to Jesus? SCIENCE EXPERIMENT This science experiment takes a bit of planning ahead, but it s very easy! All you need is gummy bears and some water. About 2-3 hours before your lesson put a few of the gummy bears in a cup or bowl of water. (You can put them in the water longer if you want, but if you leave them in too long, they will start to dissolve.) Just let them set. They will double, or even triple, in size. gummy bears cup of water Hold up the normal gummy bears. These are normal gummy bears. What do you think would happen if we put these gummy bears in water for several hours? Let the kids take turns giving their guesses. Some of you think nothing would happen. Some of you think they would dissolve or melt. And some of you think they would get bigger. The truth is, the water changes them and makes them very different! But the reaction might not be what you expect! Hold up the water-soaked gummy bears to show the kids how they have gotten bigger. Is that the reaction you expected? In our Bible story we are about to hear, we ll see that 10 men were healed and transformed by Jesus, but they didn t all give the reaction you would expect! Any time we come in contact with Jesus we have the opportunity to be changed, and any time we come in contact with Jesus, we have the opportunity to thank Him. Let s listen to our Bible story to see what happened with these ten men. BIBLE ACCOUNT Pass out a big supply of fine-tip markers. The kids will use a marker to make a face on the pad of each finger and thumb. Just a simple 2 dots for eyes and a curve for the mouth will be sufficient. Now, each child has 10 people finger puppets. As you tell the story, they will use these faces to respond. fine-tip markers Jesus and His disciples were walking along a road one day. It wasn t just any road. This road was a special road, because it ran very close to another country the country of Samaria. Now, the Jews didn t like the Samaritans. They refused to touch or speak to a Samaritan. Then, why would Jesus want to take this road that went so very close to Samaria? Maybe He knew something the others did not know. And, maybe He was going to use this particular road to teach His disciples another lesson. As Jesus talked on the way down the road, He was interrupted when a group of ten men started yelling at Him in the distance. They didn t come any closer, but they kept yelling. Jesus listened to the words they were saying. They were yelling, Have pity on us. Have pity on us! Instruct the kids to raise all their fingers and yell, Have pity on us! It was against the law for these men to come any closer. You see, they had a horrible disease called leprosy. When you have leprosy you get awful sores all over your body. The sores on lepers get so bad that sometimes their fingers, toes, and noses will fall off. No one wanted to be around lepers, because the people were afraid they would catch the leprosy. Lepers had to leave their family and friends behind in the town and live away from everyone else. These ten men lived together because they all had leprosy. 2 www.kidzmatter.com
How do you think the men with leprosy felt when they saw Jesus going past and knew that they weren t supposed to get close to anyone? When Jesus heard their cries, He was touched by these men. He did have pity on them. He wasn t afraid to be near them, so He walked over to talk to them. How do you think the men with leprosy felt when Jesus spoke to them? When Jesus saw the awfulness of the sores on their bodies He told them to go show the priests their skin. The men knew that Jesus had healed many people before, so they took off to find the priests. Instruct the kids to move all their fingers to look like they are walking. What do you think was going through the minds of these lepers as they went to find the priests? As they rushed along, they glanced down at their hands. The sores were gone! The skin was brand new. It was a beautiful sight to see. Jesus had healed them. They no longer walked down the road; they ran! The kids will now make their fingers look like they re running. All kinds of thoughts were racing through their heads. If their leprosy was really gone, they would get to return home to be with family and friends. It would be so wonderful to live in the town once again! They would no longer be outcasts. But, suddenly, one of the men stopped. The kids will hold up only one finger (and tuck the rest of their fingers in their palm). He had forgotten something. He raced back to find Jesus right where he had left Jesus. The kids will make this one finger look like it s running. When he reached Jesus, he bowed down in front of Jesus and thanked Him for the miracle. Tears came to his eyes, tears of joy and relief, and he praised God. The kids will make their one finger bow. What do you think made the one man come back to praise Jesus? But Jesus was puzzled. There was only one man who returned to say thanks and praise God. Jesus asked, Weren t there ten men cleansed? Where are the other nine? Then, Jesus said to the man, Rise and go; your faith has made you well. How do you think Jesus felt when only one of the men returned to thank Him? GAME There were 10 lepers healed. Nine of them hurried as fast as they could to get to the priests so they could be declared healed. The other leper was in a hurry, also, to get to the priests, but he took time to say thanks to Jesus. ping-pong balls buckets Divide the kids into teams. Each team will need a supply of ping-pong balls and a bucket. Place the buckets against a wall and declare a stand-behind line. The teams will need to give one of their members the job of tending the bucket and returning any missed balls to the team. At the signal, the first person on each team will toss the ping-pong balls at the bucket as hurriedly as they can. The first team to get 10 balls in their bucket will yell THANK YOU. Stop play and ask that team one of the following questions. The teams will then have new tossers and play for the second question. Why was it odd for Jesus to travel on this road? (It was very close to Samaria. Jews and Samaritans didn t like one another.) Why did the men yell at Jesus from a distance? (It was against the law for lepers to get close to people.) Describe what it means to have leprosy. (Sores on your skin, and your finger, toes, nose may fall off.) What did the lepers have to do before they could go back to live with their family and friends? (Be 3 declared well by the priests.) www.kidzmatter.com
What did Jesus say to the lepers? ( Go, show yourselves to the priests. ) Why did the one man return to Jesus? (He wanted to say thanks.) What did the one man do when he found Jesus? (knelt down and worshipped Jesus) Why didn t the nine come back? (They were too excited about seeing the priests and going home.) What did Jesus say to the one man who returned? ( Weren t there others? Then, Jesus told the man that his faith had made him well.) OBJECT LESSON You can buy all three kinds of bananas from most grocery stores. You will need one healthy yellow banana, one slightly rotting banana with just a few brown spots, and one completely brown rotten banana. Show the kids the bananas. All three of these bananas started out the same, but what happened to them? Something crept in and started spreading they were rotting! healthy banana slightly rotting banana brown, very rotted banana The rotten banana started out looking healthy like this one. Hold up the yellow banana. And then a little spot appeared. Hold up the slightly rotting banana. And another spot appeared. And another! It started slowly, and then the brown spots started to take over the banana! Hold up the brown banana. Pretty soon, the banana was overtaken! How many of you would like to eat this banana? Hold up the brown banana. Just kidding, that s not going to be our snack today! The decay on the banana shows us how the disease, leprosy, starts on a person s body. The disease starts small with just a spot. Then another spot, and another, and pretty soon, the body is overtaken. It gets so bad that the leper loses fingers, toes, ears, and their nose. Hold up the yellow banana and take the peel off of it. When God changed the lives of the ten lepers, it is almost as if he peeled off their skin and made it new and fresh and healthy. Sin is like the rotten banana and the leprosy! Sin can overtake our lives, even if it seems that it only starts out small. We all have the disease called sin, and if we don t do anything about it, it will destroy our lives. The only thing we can do about sin is allow God to forgive us and cleanse us and change our lives! Then we will be clean, new, and pure! ACTIVITY Split the kids into pairs and give each pair a piece of paper and a pencil. Tell them that they will have three minutes to come up with as many things as possible that they are thankful for. They will write them down on the paper. Some may need to turn it over and use the back if they re on a roll! paper pencils When they are finished, allow them to count the things they listed and ask each group to share two or three things they wrote down. Try to share things that no one else has shared. Was it easy or hard to come up with things you are thankful for? How many of you have said thank you to someone today? How many of you have said thank you to God sometime today? We all have so many things to be thankful for! Let s always remember to thank God and thank others! Don t be like the nine men in the Bible story who kept going. Be the one who turned around, the one who took the time to say Thank You. Having an attitude and heart full of thankfulness can make a huge difference in your life and in the lives of others! 4 www.kidzmatter.com
There is a saying, What if God took away everything, except for the things you have thanked Him for? If God really did take away everything, except for the things you thanked Him for this week, what would you have? Have you been thankful this week? Make the choice start today don t let a day go by without thanking God! Everything you have is a gift from Him! MESSAGE (slide #1) There are 2 kinds of people. Today, we are going to talk about the two kinds of people in the world. Listen closely to the descriptions and tell me which kind you think you are. The two kinds of people in the world are PowerPoint slides, #s 1-3 (slide #2) Ungrateful People and Worshipers. You can only be one of them either a worshipper or you re ungrateful. Let s talk a little about these two types of people and see if you can identify which type the people in today s Bible story were. (slide #3) Ungrateful People focus on THEMSELVES. First we re going to talk about ungrateful people. People who are ungrateful can only think about one thing themselves. They feel like they deserve only good things and for no other reason except they should have it. In their minds, they are better than other people, so there s no reason for them to be grateful for what other people may do for them. They ll always be dissatisfied. Ungrateful people find things to complain about, because nothing is ever good enough for them. Even if it seems like everything is going great in their lives, they will find something to complain about. Sometimes, really bad things happen to them, and what do they do? Complain! Sometimes, really good things happen to them, and what do they do? They somehow find something to complain about! They re never satisfied and they re never thankful for how other people or how God fits into their life. Ungrateful people don t stop to thank people or thank God, because they re too busy focusing on their lives. They don t focus on serving others, because they are so focused on themselves. They don t focus on God, because they are so focused on worldly things what s happening to them. They re selfish. OBJECT LESSON Print out the Perspective Sheet at the end of the lesson and hold it up. Or, you can show the PowerPoint slide. Ask the kids to tell you which of the two lines is longer the top line or the bottom line? Say it very casually, so it doesn t seem like something they need to contemplate. Most of the kids will say that the top line is longer, but the truth is, they are the same length! The lines are the same length! The only difference is the direction of the arrow lines at the ends of the lines. That s hard to believe! When something changes your perspective it changes your focus. Everything looks different! print-out of Perspective Sheet at the end of lesson PowerPoint slide #4 Sometimes, we focus on the wrong things and most of the time that s our problems instead of our blessings. God wants us to change our focus and have a different perspective. Instead of complaining or focusing on ourselves, God wants us to worship Him and thank Him! 5 www.kidzmatter.com
MESSAGE PART 2 (slide #5) Worshippers focus on God. If you are a worshipper, focused on God, you won t have time to complain and you ll realize that it s not all about you. You ll be too busy praising Him for who He is and what He has done. Worshippers focus on God. They focus on His faithfulness and power rather than on themselves and what they deserve. When a problem comes, they only see an opportunity for God to work. PowerPoint slides, #s 5 & 6 (slide #6) Worshippers are thankful. Whenever you start to feel yourself complain, or you start saying me, me, me a lot, immediately stop and list 10 things you are thankful for. Try it today! Or make it a habit that every morning, before you go to school, you will thank God for 15 things. Just see how that changes your attitude! You won t constantly be thinking about yourself and your problems when you start to see all the things you have to be thankful for! An attitude of worship and gratefulness is what God wants from us. God doesn t want us to be selfish! Remember to focus on God and thanking Him every day! You can t be a worshipper, focused on how big, powerful, and loving God is, and still be thinking about yourself and your problems. God is bigger than any of us and deserves our respect, obedience, and gratitude. God will give you eyes to see the world and see others the way He sees them, with love and grace. Will you be like the 9 lepers who kept going on their way, without returning to give thanks? Or will you be the one who thanks God? Will you be the one person who ALWAYS remembers to be thankful? You can make the choice! Choose to be the thankful one! OBJECT LESSON VIDEO Download the following YouTube video called Joni and Friends. If you need additional help in downloading the videos, we have included a separate file with instructions for both Mac and PC users. wheelchair YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/user/joniandfriendsvideo#p/u/16/zo2xcsxefty Borrow a wheelchair to have up front. How would you feel if you had to be in a wheelchair because you couldn t walk? What kinds of things would you miss being able to do? There is a real woman who lives today as a quadriplegic. Does anyone know what that means? It means she is paralyzed from her shoulders down. She cannot move her arms or legs. Her name is Joni Eareckson Tada. (pronounced Johnnie ). Joni is a wonderful example of a thankful person. But she hasn t had the easiest life. When Joni was a teenager, she had a diving accident that left her paralyzed. Suddenly, she couldn t do anything for herself anymore and has had to constantly depend on the care of others just for her daily survival! She can t feed herself, brush her own teeth, bathe herself, get herself dressed, or go to the bathroom by herself. How do you think she felt after her life changed and she couldn t do any of the stuff she used to do? Show the video, Joni and Friends. How would you feel if that happened to you? Have you ever known anyone in a wheelchair? Without telling us who it was, share a little bit about what things were difficult for that person, and what kind of attitude that person had. Joni Eareckson Tada has an attitude of thankfulness. Even after her accident, she remained faithful to God, 6 www.kidzmatter.com
thanking Him for each new day, for His love, and for the opportunity to share Him with others. She says that it s a good thing she has a thankful heart, because people are always doing things for her. She s always thanking them with a genuine gratitude and that makes it more pleasant for people who are helping her! This thankful attitude is something that makes Joni special, especially since she faces so many challenges. But she has overcome her challenges to live a very fruitful life for God! She started her own ministry that helps people all over the world. She s also a professional artist who creates paintings and drawings by putting paintbrushes and pencils between her teeth. Really! She can paint with her teeth! She makes movies and does radio shows. She ministers to families and kids with disabilities. She has told many, many people about the good news of Jesus. Wouldn t you like to have an attitude like hers an attitude of thankfulness and joy that overflows? You can have that attitude too! Don t let your challenges or troubles get you down or define you. Rise above them, and look for opportunities to be thankful every single day! Did this video inspire you to have a more thankful heart to God? What do you have to be thankful for? ACTIVITY Choose a few kids to demonstrate in front. Give each of them a piece of paper and a pencil. Put the paper or the floor or on a table, and they will write the words THANK YOU on their paper but they can t use their hands! They have to put the pencil or marker between their teeth. Please make sure you wash the pencils being used with soap and water beforehand. When your artists are done they will hold up their paper and show what it looks like. paper pencils It s difficult to write without using our hands, but that is exactly how Joni Eareckson Tada has to write and draw and paint! She makes beautiful pictures using only her mouth! If you want to try something different, the kids can try doing a drawing with the pencil between their toes! They ll think it s funny. We take so many things for granted, such as the ability to write and draw with our hands. When was the last time you thanked God that you could use your hands? Have you ever even thought about being thankful for your hands? If that ability was suddenly gone, though, you would notice it! Take a few moments to think of other things we take for granted and forget to be thankful for. GAME One thing that we might take for granted is our ability to care for ourselves! Some people, such as Joni Eareckson Tada, don t have the ability to care for themselves. What would it be like to have to depend on someone to do everything for you? Would you have a good attitude and thank them? Or would you have a negative attitude and be bitter and sad about it? little snack cakes table bibs We re going to play a game that will help us imagine what it would be like to have someone help us with something. Choose three volunteers to sit at a table, facing the rest of the group. These three will have to keep their hands under the table at all times. Each seat will have a bib and a little snack cake. Choose three more kids to partner with the three who are seated at the table. These partners will have to kneel behind their person, pushing their hands and arms through (under their partner s armpits). This will make the seated person look like they have arms, when really these arms are coming from the person behind them. The kneeling partners will have to tie a bib on the seated person. Then they ll have to unwrap and feed the seated person the little snack cake all while kneeling behind them. 7 www.kidzmatter.com
If you want to make the game even more extensive, you can give each person a (new!) little toothbrush, tube of toothpaste, and a cup of water. The partner can brush the person s teeth for them after feeding them. After the game, ask both partners what it felt like. When you have to depend on someone else to do everything for you, your whole perspective on life changes. You can either become selfish the way the 9 lepers were who kept walking or you can become grateful for the help, the way the one leper was who came back to thank Jesus. The truth is, we are all dependent on the Lord. We can t do anything without Him, because each breath and each day is a gift from Him; it is not guaranteed. We should be thankful and dependent on Him every single day. PRAYER The kids will sit in a big circle, or form smaller circles in their groups, and they will do a popcorn style prayer, where one at a time, they pop in with a praise of thanksgiving to God. Tell the kids to think of a one- or two-sentence quick prayer of thanksgiving. They can thank God for anything, and they will just take turns popping in one at a time! Don t get nervous if two people happen to pop at the same time; just tell the kids to allow one person to finish while the other waits, and then they will continue on. It is not supposed to be perfect and formal just a quick Thank You to let God know of our gratitude! We can offer up popcorn prayers of thanksgiving to God throughout the whole day! Try it this week! Any time you want to thank God, just pop up a quick prayer to let Him know you are thankful! BLESSING May you always show your gratitude by the things you say and the way you live. EXTRA ACTIVITIES TAKE HOME REMINDER Get a package of the white Avery stick-on dots. They come in several different sizes; the smaller ones work better. As the kids are leaving, put a couple of the white dots on their arm or face to remind them of the sores that lepers get from the disease. Then, instruct them to wear the dots the rest of the day. Every time someone says something to them about the dots, they should not only tell them what the dots represent, but also share with the person something they are thankful for. white stick-on dots 8 www.kidzmatter.com
CRAFT Give the kids colored paper and craft supplies (markers, crayons, scissors, glue, and stickers) so they can make Thank You cards for God. A lot of times, when we receive gifts from people, we send them Thank You cards to show our appreciation. Today, we are going to make Thank You cards to God, to show Him that we are thankful for His love and forgiveness. You can decorate it any way you want; just be creative! Use your artistic skills as a way to praise and worship God! Post these where the kids (and others at church) can see. colored construction paper crayons markers scissors glue stickers KNOW YOUR BIBLE In the Bible story, 10 men had leprosy. Leprosy is a disease that causes big, painful sores all over the body. It may start in one small spot, but it spreads all over the body. Everyone during Bible times believed that leprosy was very contagious. People who had leprosy, called lepers, were supposed to stay away from everyone, except other lepers. Normal, healthy people were not allowed to be near them, to touch them, or to even be friends with them. When they found out they had leprosy, they had to immediately leave their homes and live outside the city. The only people they could be around were other lepers. They were considered unwanted and outcasts. That s why it was not uncommon for a group of 10 lepers to be standing together outside of town. It was a very radical thing for Jesus to even talk to these lepers or show them compassion. But Jesus did this to show them His love and grace SCRIPTURE MEMORY Psalm 18:2-3 The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety. I called on the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and He saved me from my enemies. memory verse PowerPoint slide pairs of dice In our memory verse, we are told that God is our fortress, Savior, our rock, our shield, and our safety. Have you taken the time to thank God for being all those things to you? Today, we need to thank God for the protection and safety He provides and for loving us enough to save us. You ll need as many pair of dice as you can find. Divide the kids into the number of groups that you have pairs of dice. Give each group a pair of dice. How many men thanked Jesus for the miracle of healing? Only one! How many went on without thanking Jesus? Nine. I think those nine needed some practice at saying thanks. And, we need some practice saying our memory verse. At the signal, one person from each group will roll the dice. If the two numbers that appear add up to 9, then those groups will say the verse together. Another person from each group will take the dice and roll at the signal. Continue doing this as long as you wish. 9 www.kidzmatter.com
MUSIC We have provided two songs by Yancy, a wonderful contemporary musician who creates music especially for preteens. The songs are You Alone and God is With Us. For more of Yancy s music, go to yancynotnancy.com. music DVD downloads 10 www.kidzmatter.com
OBJECT LESSON PRINT-OUT WHICH LINE IS LONGER?