25 Januari 2015

Kelas Balita

Coach Carrie

Asst 1 : Kasey

Asst 2 : Adeline

Kelas 1 - 3

Coaches : Shianty

Kelas 4 - 6

Coaches : Tjipto

Zacchaues’ Encounter with Jesus
(Luke 19)

Tags: CC: Book of Luke

Source by : TNCC, Malaysia

1. HOOK

• Play the chicken and eagle game. Choose a kid as the eagle and another kid as the mother hen. The rest of the kids will be the chicks. In the game, the eagle tries to catch one of the chicks so he will be no longer the eagle, and the mother hen tries to protect the chicks from the eagle.
• Now I am going to tell you a story about an eagle who thought it was a chicken.
• Once a famer found an eagle’s egg in an abandoned nest. He took it home and placed it amongst his chickens under a brooding hen. When the egg hatched the mother hen reared the eagle chick as if it were her own child. And so that eagle chick grew up thinking that he was a chicken. He pecked like a chicken, he scratched like a chicken he even walked like a chicken. But in time, he grew bigger and it became clear to the other birds that this chick was an eagle. They would swoop down and say, “You are an eagle, you and king of the birds. Come and fly with us.” “I’m not an eagle, I’m a chicken,” he’d tell them. “Go away!”
  But that young eagle chick continued to grow. One day an owl swooped down. “Get on my back” he said, “I’ve got something to show you.” The young eagle hopped onto the owl’s back and the owl flew high into the sky. “Put me down. Put me down. I don’t like it up here,” the young eagle squawked. “You’ll be fine,” said the owl. “Trust me.” Soaring higher and higher, the owl finally flipped himself over and the eagle fell, plummeting fast towards the ground. “Why?” screeched the eagle. “I’m going to die.” “Just open your wings,” called the owl. The eagle opened his wings and was caught by the wind. Soon he was soaring above the farm and the chickens bellow. “You’re right,” cried the eagle. “I am an eagle. I can fly!” The eagle always thought it was a chicken until one day, he found that he could fly, he changed his mind and believed that he was an eagle … and lived as one.

2. LESSON: Zaccheaus Encounters Jesus (Luke 19)

• Today, we learn about a man named Zaccheaus who changed his mind about himself after he met Jesus.
• Tell the story based on Luke 19:1-9. You can act out the story with puppets or props: signboard with “Jericho”, sturdy chair, 2 small branches with leaves. Get volunteers for 5 roles: Jesus, Zaccheaus, tree (need a child, preferably tall to stand next to the chair, holding 2 branches and 2 people). The teacher or someone who can read well can narrate while the children act out the play.
• Jesus was going through the city of Jericho. (“Jesus” walks past the sign and the “tree”, followed by 2 people. They stop after the “tree”.) In Jericho, there was a man named Zacchaeus. (“Zaccheaus” steps out) He was a chief tax collector. In those days, people hated tax collectors. Tax collectors collected high taxes and made life difficult for the people, especially the poor.Zacchaeus wanted to see who Jesus was. (“Zacchaeus” tip-toes and jumps to see Jesus, but the 2 people block him) But there were many others who wanted to see Jesus and they were blocking, Zacchaeus who was too short to see Jesus. So he ran to a place where he knew Jesus would come. Then he climbed a sycamore tree so he could see him. (“Zacchaeus” climbs up on the chair to see “Jesus” ).When Jesus came to where Zacchaeus was, he looked up and saw him in the tree. Jesus said, “Zacchaeus, come down now. I must stay at your house today.” Zacchaeus hurried and came down. (“Zacchaeus” comes down from the chair) He was happy that Jesus was coming to his house.But when the people saw this, they began to complain, “Look at the kind of man Jesus is staying with. Zacchaeus is a sinner!” Zacchaeus said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions (the things I own) to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”Jesus said, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

• Zacchaeus was not only unpopular, but hated by the people. This is shown by the people’s disapproval of Jesus going to his house and they also called him a “sinner.”
• Zacchaeus wanted to see who Jesus was. There were such a big crowd and he was up on a tree but Jesus saw his need. Despite of the people’s disapproval, Jesus shows him love and compassion by going to his house. Zacchaeus was more important to Jesus than popularity.
• Zacchaeus changes his mind about himself after experiencing Jesus’ love and acceptance of him. He did bad things in the past (he collected high taxes, made people’s lives difficult and cheated people). To the people, he was a cheat, a tax collector and a sinner. But we can see that Zacchaeus had changed when he told everyone he would give half the things he owned to the poor and pay back anyone he cheated 4 times the amount. Jesus told the people that Zacchaeus is also a son of Abraham.

• What can we learn from Zacchaeus’ encounter with Jesus?

• Lesson 1: Jesus comes to our house
  • Although Jesus was God, he came to earth as a human being. He saw our need to be saved and he came to save us. Even though we may be not important in other peoples’ eyes, even though we are sinners, like Zacchaeus, we are important to Jesus.
  • When we accept Jesus as our Saviour, the Holy Spirit moves into us and lives within us. We become his house.
  
  

• Lesson 2: When we encounter Jesus, He changes (renews) our minds about ourselves
  • Romans 12:2 tells us “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
  • Zacchaeus is a son (descendant) of Abraham. Abraham had a covenant with God and his descendants were included in the covenant. When we accept Jesus as our Saviour, we become God’s children. Like the son below who looks like his father (because he has his DNA), we are like God because we are his children (and we have his DNA).
  • We may not be a cheat like Zacchaeus was, but there may be other areas of our life that we need to change our mind. Some movies, TV shows and friendsmay tell you that saying foul words, being disobedient to parents and teachers, disturbing your friends when the teacher is teaching is “cool” but God’s word teaches us the contrary/opposite. In fact, we will actually feel uncomfortabledoing those things because deep, down inside, we are not like that. God hasmade us a new creation, and we are the most comfortable, most happy and most at peace when we are like Jesus. What’s really cool is having the Holy Spirit lead us into areas where we can have the best possible life on earth, that is abundant life.
  
  

3. ACTIVITY SUGGESTIONS

• Song: Zacchaeus was a wee little man
• Song: Hello, My name is …

18 Januari 2015

Kelas Balita

Coach Jemimah

Asst 1 : Awan

Asst 2 : Dewi K.

Kelas 1 - 3

Coaches : Iwan & Shevica

Kelas 4 - 6

Coaches :  Savitri (Asst. Miguel)

Mary & Martha Encounter Jesus

1. HOOK

• It was Daddy’s birthday. And Sam wanted to have a nice party for Daddy. So he hung decorations (including a hand-drawn “Happy Birthday” banner) and baked a cake. Daddy came home after work at 6. Wow! The house looked wonderful, and he was so happy. But wait, nobody was around! “Sam!” Daddy called. “Just a minute! I’m mixing the drinks!” Sam replied from the kitchen.
  Daddy took a seat at the table and waited. After 10 minutes, he called again, “Sam! Come over here and join me!” “Hold on, Dad!” Sam said, as he ran to and fro the table and the kitchen. “I need to get the forks and spoons out.” Several more minutes passed. Daddy was feeling lonelier at the table. 
  Finally Daddy called Sam again. “Sam, come here.” “Wait Dad! I want everything to be just perfect for your birthday!”
  “But Sam,” Daddy said. “My birthday will be perfect as long as I can spend it with you. Now there are all the decorations and cakes and drinks, but you are not here! All I want is to be able to celebrate my birthday by spending time with my boy! So come on here and sit with me and tell me about your day!”
  Sam came and cuddled up to Daddy, and they had a lovely time together. They had such a good time that they almost forgot to eat the cake. But Sam finally realised that all his Daddy wanted was to be with him.
• It is the same with our Heavenly Daddy, who loves us and just wants to be with us. Let me tell you about what happened when Jesus went to visit His good friends at their house.

2. LESSON: Mary & Martha Encounter Jesus (Luke 10:38-42)

i. Story (based on Luke 10:38-42) (Can use puppets or get kids to act out etc. Props can be kitchen ware/cleaning supplies for Martha.)

• When Jesus visited his two friends, Martha and Mary, they must have been so excited to have Jesus in their house.
• What did Martha do? She wanted to make everything perfect for Jesus. She cooked and cleaned and arranged everything neatly.
• What did Mary do? She wanted to spend time with Jesus. So she just sat at His feet and listened to Him talk.
• Martha was rushing everything … dinner time was coming. Where was that sister of hers? Just sitting there? That made Martha very angry. She complained to Jesus, “My sister left me to do the work by myself! Tell her to help me!”
• Jesus calmed her down. “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

ii.  Lesson:

• Martha thought Jesus would be pleased with her if she did everything right. She wanted everything to be just nice for Him.
• But in her busyness, she became stressed — “upset and worried” about many things. She also became angry at people who weren’t as busy as her. She complained about them.
• But Jesus reminded Martha that He didn’t need all her “doing” to be pleased with her. He was already pleased with her.
• All she needed to do was be like Mary and to just sit and spend time with Him, resting.
• It’s not wrong to want to serve Jesus. But we try to do things out of our own strength because we think God will love us more, then we become upset, angry and tired.
• Let’s all learn to rest in Jesus first, to let Him fill us with His love and strength. Then our service and ministry will be an outflow of Him in our lives.
• Illustration idea: (You may choose to use props etc) Torch light with battery vs Lamp plugged into socket. Once the battery runs out, the torch light will not work anymore. But the lamp is plugged into the power source and will keep on shining. If we do things on our own strength, we are running on our own battery, which will drain out eventually. But if we rest in Jesus, we’re always connected in His strength, which will never run out.
• God promises rest to all of us in Christ Jesus. At the cross, Jesus has done everything for us; He becomes everything for us. When we trust in Him, we can rest and draw on His love, His joy, and His strength every day. And we can serve Him and others with His love, His joy and His strength.

• Memory Verse: Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all who are tired, and I will give you rest.”
• Prayer: Thank you Jesus that we can rest in You because You have done everything for us. Thank you that You love to spend time with us. Thank you for loving me. In Your name we pray, Amen.

3. ACTIVITY IDEAS

• Quiet time: Play some slow worship songs (instrumental would be good). Have kids sit a bit apart from each other, close their eyes, keep quiet and just enjoy the music and God’s presence for about 5 -10 minutes (depending on age/attention span).

• Song: (to the tune of London Bridge.)
  Jesus came to see His friends,
  see His friends, see His friends,
  Jesus came to see His friends
  They were happy.Martha baked a loaf of bread
  loaf of bread, loaf of bread.
  Martha baked a loaf of bread
  Just for Jesus.Mary listened carefully
  carefully, carefully.
  Mary listened carefully
  Just to Jesus.

•  Close in prayer; remind kids that Jesus loves us so much that He wants to spend time.