God s Messenger: Meeting Kids Needs DISCOVER JESUS Grade Levels: 5, 6 Objective: To encourage the students to accept His gift of salvation and draw closer to Him through a personal relationship. In This Lesson Plan: Audio Story: Searching for Christ (8:13 minutes) - Summary (for teacher) - Introduction (to read to students before playing the audio) - Discussion questions (after playing the audio) Story Time: Where s Jesus? (read to the students) - Discussion questions - Class activity - Worksheets (2) + Teacher s KEYS Class Project Ellen G. White Quotes DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: (after playing the audio) 1. Why was Ellen Harmon discouraged and afraid? 2. What happened when Ellen Harmon knelt down and prayed? 3. How did the lady know Ellen Harmon had found Jesus? 4. What is the difference between baptism by immersion and baptism by sprinkling water? 5. What is sanctification? 6. Why do you think some people were unhappy to hear that Jesus was coming soon? AUDIO STORY Searching for Christ (8:13 minutes) SUMMARY (for teacher): Ellen Harmon was discouraged and afraid because she didn t think she d ever be worthy to be a child of God. Finally, she decided to accept God s gift of grace and salvation, but she was confused and distressed because she didn t feel the ecstasy that she thought would prove that she had been accepted by God. As she prayed, she suddenly felt her burdens disappear and Jesus seemed very near. She was later baptized by immersion. But Ellen s doubts were not fully gone. She didn t think she could ever have the purity known as sanctification. But she was sure of one thing: Those who find Jesus will rejoice at His coming. INTRODUCTION (to read to students before playing the audio): Young Ellen Harmon was discouraged and afraid because she didn t think she d ever be worthy to be a child of God. After hearing a sermon about accepting God s gift of grace and Copyright 2006 Ellen G. White Estate, Inc. 1 Discover Jesus: 5 th & 6 th
God s Messenger: Meeting Kids Needs salvation, she decided to do so. But why didn t she feel more ecstatic? Would her burdens ever disappear? Had she really been accepted by God? DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: (after reading the story) 1. Do you think it is important to keep God s commandments? Then what was wrong with the message being preached by the ministers? What was missing? 2. If you were Mr. Waggoner, how would you have felt after realizing that Jesus had died for you? 3. What can you do to discover Jesus as a personal friend? CLASS ACTIVITY Divide the students into small groups. Assign each group a story from the life of Jesus. Give them a few minutes to prepare, and then have each group act out the story without using any words (charades). After each group is finished, have the other students guess the story. Then discuss what that story tells us about Jesus. After all the groups are finished, read the following quote to the class and encourage them to spend time reading about the life of Jesus and thinking about it: It would be well for us to spend a thoughtful hour each day in contemplation of the life of Christ. The Desire of Ages, p. 83 STORY TIME Where s Jesus? We need to keep all ten of God s commandments. The preacher s voice boomed out across the congregation. That means we need to keep the Sabbath day holy just as God instructed. Those who were listening nodded in agreement. The preacher continued, spelling out the things they needed to do to make sure they were observing the Sabbath day correctly. There was no mention of Jesus. Unfortunately, this was the general trend in the church. We need to do this. We need to do that. More and more ministers were focusing on rules and regulations and forgetting the importance of a personal relationship with Jesus. Mrs. White was troubled by what was taking place. When she spoke about the love of Jesus, the believers no longer seemed to care. They were so occupied with doing the right things that they had lost interest in this message of love. Although they still claimed that they were saved through Christ, their words were meaningless the personal relationship with Christ was missing. One day in 1882, a man named Mr. Waggoner was sitting in campmeeting when he had an unforgettable experience. He was a trained medical doctor who now worked on the editorial staff of a church publication. This is how he described the experience: Suddenly a light shone around me, and the tent was, for me, far more brilliantly lighted than if the noon-day sun had been shining, and I saw Christ hanging on the cross, crucified for me. In that moment I had my first positive knowledge, which came like an overwhelming flood, that God loved me, and that Christ died for me. After this deeply-touching experience, Mr. Waggoner began to see things differently. He realized that although it was important to keep God s commandments, it was even more important to stay connected to Jesus. Jesus, not commandment-keeping, was his Savior. Salvation is a gift, not something we earn. Jesus earned it when He died for our sins. He gives us eternal life by His grace. Without Him, absolutely no one could be saved. And when we accept His salvation, He also gives us Copyright 2006 Ellen G. White Estate, Inc. 2 Discover Jesus: 5 th & 6 th
God s Messenger: Meeting Kids Needs WORKSHEETS Discovering Jesus (Maze and Questions) Directions: List three ways that will help you draw closer to Jesus. Then work your way through the maze to discover Jesus at the end. Answer: Answers will vary. See Discover Jesus: Worksheet 5-A KEY for maze answer. Our Best Friend (Word Search) Directions: Find the words from the quote. They may be vertical or horizontal. Answer: See teacher s KEY for Discover Jesus: Worksheet 6-A. CLASS PROJECT Communication is a great way to get to know someone better. Talk about ways we can communicate with Jesus. Then introduce the idea of a prayer journal, writing down our thoughts and prayers to Jesus. Have the students try this out for a week. The prayers don t have to be long. You can give them 5-10 minutes each day to work on this, or you can encourage them to try keeping a prayer journal at home. Some students may decide they like this new method of communication. power to live as we should, power to keep His commandments. It all comes from Him. One of Mr. Waggoner s coworkers, Mr. Jones, was also convinced that Jesus needed to be their primary focus. They both began to preach this new emphasis on Jesus. Jesus is our Savior, they proclaimed. He offers to forgive our sins and give us victory. We must keep our eyes on Him. Many believers who heard their message still had a difficult time believing in Jesus promises. They had accepted Jesus as their Savior, but they didn t really believe that He would give them the power to overcome sin. There were others, however, who were excited about what they heard. One man began spending time in the woods with his Bible, discovering Jesus as a personal friend. Another man returned home and eagerly shared what he had learned, that we can obtain salvation only through faith in Jesus. A farmer in a congregation was so inspired that he sold his farm and became a minister for Christ. Mr. Waggoner and Mr. Jones were met with opposition from some of the church leaders for other theological issues they raised, but they had reintroduced Jesus to the church, proclaiming that only through Him can we be saved. As for Mrs. White, she continued to preach about Jesus love, emphasizing that we need to know Him as our personal friend and Savior. She ended one of her sermons with these words: Oh, I love Him. I love Him, for He is my love. I see in Him matchless charms, and oh, how I want that we shall enter in through the gates into the city.... I wish you would educate your hearts and lips to praise Him, to talk of His power and glory.... God help us to praise Him more and to be found faultless. ELLEN G. WHITE QUOTES He is everything we need, the first, last, and best in everything. Sermons and Talks, vol. 2, p. 93 It is through the gift of Christ that we receive every blessing. Testimonies for the Church, vol. 8, pp. 287, 288 When once the gaze is fixed upon Him, the life finds its center.... Duty becomes a delight and sacrifice a pleasure. To honor Christ, to become like Him, to work for Copyright 2006 Ellen G. White Estate, Inc. 3 Discover Jesus: 5 th & 6 th
God s Messenger: Meeting Kids Needs Him, is life s highest ambition and its greatest joy. Education, p. 297 We may have many other friends, but they can never be to us what Christ is. This Day With God, p. 153 When we turn toward the Sun of Righteousness, when we come in touch with Christ, the whole soul is aglow with the brightness of the divine presence. Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 40 It would be well for us to spend a thoughtful hour each day in contemplation of the life of Christ. We should take it point by point, and let the imagination grasp each scene, especially the closing ones.... Beholding the beauty of His character, we shall be changed into the same image from glory to glory. 2 Cor. 3:18 The Desire of Ages, p. 83 Copyright 2006 Ellen G. White Estate, Inc. 4 Discover Jesus: 5 th & 6 th