DAY 1
Matthew Henry states in “Matthew Henry Concise Commentary” on the Parable of the Lost Sheep:
The lost sheep represents the sinner as departed from God…
We want to define what sin is for the children on day one. The book of James in chapter 1 verse 14 defines it perfectly:
It is the evil that a person wants that tempts him. His own evil desire leads him away and holds him. This desire causes sin.”
When we desire something that is not of God’s will so much that we ignore God’s will, we sin. What are the things God wants that we might not? He wants us to tell the truth–no lying. But sometimes we want something so badly we lie to get it. That desire leads us to sin.
Scripture references for today's topic:
Romans 3:23
Luke 15:4a
Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-13
The lost sheep represents the sinner as departed from God…
We want to define what sin is for the children on day one. The book of James in chapter 1 verse 14 defines it perfectly:
It is the evil that a person wants that tempts him. His own evil desire leads him away and holds him. This desire causes sin.”
When we desire something that is not of God’s will so much that we ignore God’s will, we sin. What are the things God wants that we might not? He wants us to tell the truth–no lying. But sometimes we want something so badly we lie to get it. That desire leads us to sin.
Scripture references for today's topic:
Romans 3:23
Luke 15:4a
Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-13
PRE-SERVICE ACTIVITYWhile we waited for our friends to join us, we made our "Jesus is My Guide" Compass.
DiscussionWhen we are lost, Jesus points the way to God our Father in heaven. We learn about Jesus and His gift to us in the Bible, when we talk with our parents and other Christians, and with prayer.
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TODAY'S SERVICE
We heard about the Parable of the Lost Sheep from the Gospel of Luke. Fr. Steven gave us a little sermon. And we prayed before we broke into our groups and went to an activity station. |
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Craft Station
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Food Station
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Bible Training Station
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Music & Games Station
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Tabletop Games Station
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What we didWe sampled strawberries from two different bowls. One bowl had good, normal tasting strawberries. The other bowl tasted wrong–the strawberries had salt on them. Just a little salt changed how the strawberries tasted. That is like how sin makes our lives bad. Can the strawberries be made clean again? Yes. Jesus cleans us from sin just like water cleaned the bad strawberries and made them good again.
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Sin and StrawberriesDiscussion With Miss SandiRead Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-13 to the kids from the children’s bible.
At first, Adam and Eve spent time with God. They walked with Him, ate with Him, even asked Him all kinds of questions. They were happy living with God. God had only one rule, though: don’t eat the fruit from one tree. If they ate fruit from that tree it would bring them death. But even though Adam and Eve LOVED God they didn’t want to do things His way. They really, really, really wanted to know what that one fruit would taste like. So when someone, the devil, lied to them, they believed the lie. They believed the lie, because they wanted to believe the lie more than trusting what God said. That wanting was what made them disobey God: that wanting, that desire, made them sin. |
What we didWe watched a puppet show about the first part of the Parable of the Lost Sheep.
Beat 1: opening scene: See Lamby forlorn and crying on cliff ledge. Beat 2: Theme stated: Jesus Is looking for You Beat 3: Set up old world: Sheep flock eating great grass, Jesus petting sheep, feeding sheep, correcting sheep. Beat 4: Catalyst event: Butterfly catches Lamby’s eye and he really likes it Beat 5: Debate: Has doubts Lamby looks back at flock and Jesus, then butterfly, then flock and Jesus. Beat 6: Makes a Decision: Lamby decides to follow butterfly even though Jesus says not to. Beat 7: B Story Other sheep playing sheep games Beat 8: Fun and Games Lamby goes over all kinds of dangerous obstacles and barely survives. Jesus calls over and over, following Lamby and conquering all the dangers. Lamby ignores |
TheaterDiscussion With Miss DarcienDiscussion
Was Lamby doing God’s will or did Lamby do what he wanted to do instead? That is sin. We all have sinned, not just Lamby. [have the kids turn to Romans 3:23 in their bibles and place a pink sticky note with the scripture reference in that place. ] The bible tells about sin from the very first humans all the way until now. We see it in the Genesis story of Adam and Eve [have the kids turn to Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-13 in their bibles and place a Pink sticky note with the scripture reference in that place. ] when they chose to listen to the lies the devil told them instead of trusting that God had the best plans for them. We see the Lamby in Jesus story of the lost sheep. [have the kids turn to Luke 15:4a and place Pink sticky note with the scripture reference in that place. ] Spoon PuppetsWe made our puppets so we could do our own theater.
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What we didTake two kids up to the front and have them place their hands behind their back. Have the other students close their eyes and put the heads down. Put a sheep in the hands of one of the kids standing at the front. Now the other kids can look up. They must take turns guessing who has the sheep in their hand just by noting non-verbal clues. After all the kids have guessed, reveal who has the sheep in their hands. All the students who got it right, get a point. Then repeat the process until everyone has had a chance to be up front. When everyone has had their turn, tally the points. The one with the most points wins the contest.
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Lost Sheep GameDiscussion With Miss DarcienWe have just gone through many lost sheep. They were not always easy to find! Sometimes, when we get lost, it is not easy for Jesus to bring us back. But he always accomplishes that, if we ask in faith. Let’s ask Jesus this week to keep us close to him—and close to the herd, which is our Christian friends. That way, we may never get lost, and he won’t have to find us!
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What we didWe chased balloon sheep to try and get them into their sheep pen. We could only use our feet.
And we listened to "Bullfrogs and Butterflies: I Like Knowing God the Best" and 05 The Lost Sheep: (song). |
Gather the Lost Sheep GameDiscussion With Miss PennyHelp Jesus gather the lost sheep! You win when you get all the sheep into the sheep pen!
Please, God, May I? GameThis is like Mother, May I? But with an emphasis on waiting to do what God says to do.
Twist on the game Not all the steps have to be forward - they can be backward too, which can help the game last longer. |
What we didHave one child pass out an index card with a verse to each child. Have another volunteer stand in the center of the room, and tape the index cards displaying a sin on his or her clothing in various places. The volunteer will have the appearance of one covered in sin. You can instruct the rest of the children to begin looking up their verse, and read it several times. Then one at a time, have the children read their verse aloud, find the referenced sin on the child standing in the center of the room, and rip it off. Older kids can help younger kids if needed.
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Sin GameDiscussion With Mr. NickWe began by reading Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-19 (The commandment and the first sin transgressing that commandment).
We learned that even though we all some sin or another, Jesus can remove all of our sins, no matter how many we have. |
END OF OUR DAY
When all our fun was done. We gathered in the sanctuary to
Sing PraiseBullfrogs and Butterflies
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Re-CapWe talked about what we learned and then we prayed for each other. |
Dismissal BlessingFather Steven blessed us and then we got our things together to wait for our family to get us. |
TAKE HOME
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References & Resources
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