The Blind Man Of Jericho

AIM: To teach our children to see that Jesus does many wonderful things through the power of the spirit in him. Jesus is the healer of those who are sick in their bodies too. What is most important,is not to be afraid but to believe that God helps us even when we are blind and helpless.


THE BLIND MAN OF JERICHO

              As Jesus was coming near Jericho, there was a blind man sitting by the road begging. When he heard the crowd passing by, he asked "what was happening?". 

"Jesus of Nazareth is passing by." they told him. He cried out, "Jesus Son of David! Take pity on me!"
The people in front scolded him and told him to be quiet. But he shouted even more loudly. "Son of David! Take pity on me!"


Jesus stopped and ordered the blind man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?"

"Sir", he answered, "I want to see again". Jesus said to him, "Then see! Your faith has made you well".

At once he could see, and he followed Jesus, giving thanks to God. When the crowd saw it, they all praised God.

Prayer:
Dear God we thank you for giving us the gift of sight to see and to do all things to worship and praise you. We also pray for all the people who are not able to see because of some sickness or disease. We ask you to guide and protect them along the way everyday. We thank you Jesus and we love you Jesus.

Amen.

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

AIM: To teach us to be humble. God does not like proud people. If we humble  ourselves, God will exalt us.  Jesus tells us a story of two people, one a pharisee and the other was a tax collector.  Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else. "Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, 'O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity -- greedy, dishonest, adulterous -- or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’ But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, 'O God, be merciful to me a sinner.' I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted." First of all Who was a Pharisee? Pharisees were people from Jesus's times, who followed the Law of God very strictly. In fact  they followed them so strictly that they forgot the original purpose of the law. They were so caught up with "following the law" that they forgot to be human  good and kind.They thought they were very "holy" and were careful not to mix with anyone who may make them "unholy". They were also very proud and rarely cared for others. Who was a Tax Collector? Tax Collectors were Jews who used to work for the Roman Government. they used to collect taxes on behalf of the Romans. They were very unpopular with the Jewish people , because often the taxes were rather hard to come up with. Many tax collectors were also dishonest and would collect extra money in the name of taxes and kept the extra money for  themselves. This story is very simple, but what does it really mean?  Jesus clearly says that the prayer of the tax collector was more acceptable to God than the Pharisee!! But how can that be? The Pharisee used to follow God's law while the Tax collector was by nature not good!! What Jesus was telling us was that God hates pride. He does not like a boastful look. God can read our hearts and our minds. He knows what our thoughts are. We must not judge by outer signs or by what we see of a person from the outside. So even though visible a Pharisee was a good man, his heart was not good. While the Tax Collector seemed bad to others but in his heart he was God loving and God fearing.  The Moral of this Parable is  1) Be humble. God loves a humble heart.  2) Never judge a person by appearances. God can see his heart.

Prayer: 

Lord, help me to be a child- pure and kind. 

Help me to tell wrong from right. 

Make my heart like yours dear Lord - Big and good. 

Keep me from pride and vice. 

May I be close to You and Do what Your Heart tells me to do. 

Amen.

Action Song: 

Give me oil in my lamp. 

Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burning, burning, burning

Give me oil in my lamp, I pray - Alleluia!!

Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burning,burning, burning

Keep me burning 'til the break of day

Come on and Sing hosanna, sing hosanna

Sing hosanna to the King of Kings

Come on and Sing hosanna, sing hosanna

Sing hosanna to the King of Kings

Give me joy in my heart, keep me praising, praising, praising

Give me joy in my heart, I pray - Alleluia!

Give me joy in my heart, keep me praising, praising, praising

Keep me praising 'til the break of day

Come on and Sing hosanna, sing hosanna

Sing hosanna to the King of Kings

Come on and Sing hosanna, sing hosanna

Sing hosanna to the King of Kings

The Good Samaritan

AIM: Our whole lives will be spent in actually putting into practice this Parable. We are to love our neighbors especially those who are most in need. We need to be sensitive to the needs , requirements of others - both materially and emotionally. As kids, we teach the children to recognize situations where they can help in any way they can. We also teach children to care.

This Parable begins by a young man asking Jesus a question, "Teacher, what must I do to have Eternal Life? " , he was asking Jesus what he could do to reach heaven and be with God and the Angels.

Jesus asked the man, "What does God's law tell you to do? "

This man was very well versed with the Scriptures of Jesus's time and had a ready answer.

He said , " Love the Lord your God with all your heart , with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind and love your neighbour as yourself"

Jesus replied, " You are right!! Do this and you will live in Heaven"

This young man was not convinced. He asked Jesus, " Who is my neighbour? "

Jesus decided to answer his next question with a parable.

Once there was a  Jewish man who was travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho. The road to Jerusalem was rocky with small hills all around. It normally took about 1-2 days to walk that distance. Since he was walking that distance he must have had some clothes, food, water and some money or valuables with him.
The man was probably enjoying his solitary walk and enjoying the views. All of a sudden a group of thieves jumped from nowhere and attacked this man. They attacked him and stole all his belongings before running away.

The poor man must have not been prepared for such an ambush and was lying, abandoned on the road - helpless.They not only stole his belongings , they even tore his clothes while hurting him. They made sure he would not be able to follow them by hurting him pretty bad. He was wounded and bleeding as well. The only way he could be saved was if some kind passerby helped him out. He was too weak to move and help himself.

In a little while a priest was passing by the same way. Thank God!! at least now, this Jewish man would get to safety and out of harms way. Well atleast that is what we would expect of him. sadly, the priest just continued to walk by and pretended he did not even see this helpless man!
A little while later, another man passed by. he was a Levite. Levites are people who used to work i God's temple and would sing praises to God. So yes, you could call them good and holy people after a priest.
So maybe the priest earlier was in a big hurry to attend a very important meeting and could not help this poor man, but now a Levite has come!! Good man that he is, surely he will help this poor man stranded helpless on the road!
But he too, saw this man and continued on the other side of the road - as though he did not exist!! How terrible - to be abandoned like that by the people you would have otherwise trusted!

In a little while a Samaritan man was passing by. You see, you must know that Samaritans and Jews were not exactly the best of friends in those days. In fact  they did not like each other at all! The Jews used to treat Samaritans quite bad - so they never ever really mingled at all. 

I do not expect the Samaritan would help a Jew!! After all, they were enemies! But the strangest thing happened. Humanity took over. The Samaritan saw not a Jew but a human being. He saw a man like him, wounded, hurt , helpless, bleeding and in need of quick help or he might die. 

He felt compassion. He stopped. He saw the extent of the hurt and began to bandage the man's wounds. He then kindly lifted this man and put him on his own donkey. He took him to an Inn (it was like what hotels are these days)In the Inn he cared for this Jewish man the whole night. 

The next day, he removed sufficient money, about 2 silver coins or 2 dinari and gave it to the Inn keeper. he asked the inn keeper to take good care of him and also promised to pay whatever extra money he might spend afterwards on this man. 

Jesus ended his parable by asking, " Which of these three men do you think was a neighbour to the man? " 

"The man who took pity on him" , answered the man. 

" Go and do the same" answered Jesus. 

Likewise, we too must care for others. We must ask Jesus to give us a kind heart and courage to help everyone, friends and others when they need our help. Only then can we be God's friends - and go to heaven.





Image Courtesy : Sermon4kids

PARABLE OF THE LOST COIN

AIM: To teach children how much God values us - and how much he wants us to be with Him always.
Teach them the value of saying sorry to God and being with Him at all times.

Revision:
What are Parables?
Parables are stories that Jesus told with examples to teach us special lessons. Parables were short and simple but had very good (read deep, moral and spiritual ) lessons behind them.

PARABLE OF THE LOST COIN: 

Images from here 

Bible Passage: Lk 15:8-10

Jesus was talking to a lot of people. He liked people and liked to listen to what they say. He enjoyed spending time with them and while He was at it, He loved talking to them about God,His Father in Heaven.
One day, while He was about His Father's work, some Pharisees and teachers of the law (Very interlligent people who studied a lot, taught others and followed laws very strictly) saw Him and started to grumble amongst themselves.
They wondered why Jesus, such a good man who never did anything wrong wanted to be with "sinners" or people who always disobeyed what God asked them to do.

Jesus wanted to tell them that God loved everyone, especially those who wanted to go far from God by disobeying them. He wanted to tell them that God eagerly waited His "lost " children's return and always kept looking for them.

He told them a story about a woman who had 10 silver coins.

In the time when Jesus lived, women used to wear a headband made of silver coins on their forehead. It was the "fashion" of those days. Like many women of her time, this lady too had a similar band. She was extremely fond of it, and never missed an opportunity to wear it. 

One day, as she was working, she noticed one coin missing. 

She was very upset. She could not rest till she found it. She began to search for it everywhere.

She swept her house.

 She searched every corner.

 She looked in different rooms.












She bent and searched the floor.

 As it grew darker, she lit a lamp and searched all over the place.
 High and low she searched, and could not rest.

Finally, in the end - she found her coin.

  What joy!! What happiness!

She found her lost coin!!She ran to tell her friends and neighbours about her find!!

She tells them , "Rejoice with me. I have found my lost coin" 

 And so it is with God our Father. Just like this woman did not rest till she found her lost coin and ultimately rejoiced when she found it, so are we precious to our Lord. He wont rest till he seeks us out and are re-united with Him.

Jesus went on to say, "In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of Angels of God over one sinner who repents."

Remember: 

God Loves You very Much.
He thought of you when He made the world.
How special you must be in God's eyes!!
God wants you near Him in your thoughts and in prayers.
He wants to love you and wants you to love Him.
When we wrong God by our actions, all we need to do is say "I'm Sorry, God" , that way God finds us even more easily.
All Angels in Heaven join God in celebration when we do that.


Action Song: 

Jesus Loves me.

Parable of the Rich Fool

AIM:    To enforce the Christian virtue of sharing in children, to remind them that wealth and accumulation of goods is not the ultimate goal but to live a life pleasing to God.

Luke 12: 13-21

Once upon a time there was a rich man who had a very big farm.

He grew lots of crops in his farm.

One year, he had a very good harvest,and his workers gathered lots of grain.

The Rich Man was very happy and thought to himself -"How blessed I am! I am Rich!"

But what shall I do? The harvest was so great that I have no room to store it in my barns.

"Oh, no!! I may have to give some away!" That thought made him pretty sad. He wanted to sell all his crop and get a lot of money .

" I know what I'll do!", thought the Rich man

-I will pull down my old barns...

-...and I will build bigger barns!

I will say to my soul,

"Soul, you have many riches stored up for many years. Take it easy, eat, drink, and be merry!"

But God said to him, "You fool!Tonight you are going to die!What will you do then, with all the things that you stored ?" 

That night he died in his sleep and he had to leave it all behind.

He could not take all those riches with him.

He was foolish – because he made so many plans but God had different plans for him.

Does that sound like us sometimes? How many of us cry and put up a small tantrum for our parents to deal  with , when we don't get things we asked for?  

Do we fight  and complain when I don't get that new toy? or that chocolate with a  toy inside? 

Do I think of how hard my parents work for me? 

We always want more. More toys, More candy, More clothes, more stuff. 

We don’t have to be like this rich man.

There are many people in the world who have very little of the many things we take for granted. 

God loves them too- If God gave me something extra – He wants me to share some of it.

Jesus told us this parable  as a warning not to be greedy.

In the Story if we see the way the man talks he keeps saying, “My Crops, My barns, My Soul” – its all about Me! Me! Me!

Did the farmer get to keep all the extra food he saved up for himself? No.

And that’s why God doesn’t want us to keep too many things for ourselves. He doesn’t want us to be greedy and keep things just for us. He wants us to keep only what we need and then give our extras away so that we can help other people. If we give our extra things or our extra money away to help other people, God will be happy with us.

For example, if I have an extra chocolate – God will not like it – if I hide it and eat all by myself. God will really like it if I shared it with a friend. Particularly, if that friend does not have one.

Likewise, God likes me to share certain things with my friends such as my talents etc.

If I am good in studies, God wants me to use that talent and help my classmate or friend who finds it hard to study!

Jesus is our everything. When we have Jesus, we don’t have to worry about anything.Even if it seems to be less, God will return us back everything so many times more!!

We don't worry about "little things" . Because when we have Jesus, we have everything!

When we have Jesus, we can give what we have generously to others because we know we will never ever have less.. When we have Jesus, He provides all we need. And no one can take Him away from us forever. (Luke 4:33)

The Great Teacher

AIM:  To teach children that they can rely on an All Knowing God, and that Jesus is available t us at all times - whenever we pray. To introduce the concept of Bible Studies, the importance of Parables and an introduction to such life lessons.

There are various phases in a child's life wherein different people hold great importance to them.

Needless to say, the greatest influences in a child's life is the parent themselves. However, about the time a child begins school one of the most important person(s)  in their life invariably becomes their teacher. 

Teachers have an immense capacity and responsibility in these little minds. 

Like Spiderman says " With great Power comes Great responsibility" 

Hence, we as teachers try our best to be extra careful and encouraging to our kids. 

This section of my class began like this: 

( I began writing on the "White Board" . ) 

Teacher: Who does this all the time? 

Kids: TEACHER

Teacher : Good- do you like your teachers? 

Kids: YES!!

Teacher: Can you tell me some of your favourite Teacher's names? 

Teacher: Thats great!! Do you know you have ONE Great Teacher who can teach you every lesson in the world? 

He is Always Right!

Never has the wrong answer and can teach you so beautifully that you will understand verything He teaches immediately? 

He is so Great that he has taught me, your parents, your grandparents and everyone you can ever think of!!!

(Kids look on in awe!!) 

Teacher: Can anyone tell me who This Great Teacher is? 

(Silence) 

Teacher: This teacher did not teach in classrooms but wherever He met anyone who would listen. 

(Silence) 

Teacher: He taught in Temples or in a boat or in mountains and hills .......and He loved Children 

(recognition lights up a few faces. Some hands go up ) 

Kids: JESUS

Teacher: That is right - Jesus is the greatest teacher!!!

Do you know how he taught? He did not use notebooks, pens, Blackboards- so how did He teach? 

He taught us with stories!! Jesus loved to tell stories - His stories are called PARABLES!!

Parables are stories that Jesus told with examples to teach us special lessons. Parables were short and simple but had very good (read deep, moral and spiritual )  lessons behind them. 

We wound up with a short Prayer to The Greatest Teacher ever asking Him to help us Love Him more and more!!