‘Incredible Forgiveness’ Childrens Lesson on the Prodigal Son

BIG IDEA: GOD’S FORGIVENESS IS INCREDIBLE

AIM: The aim of the ‘Incredible Forgiveness’ session is for children to see that God’s forgiveness is incredible – and they experience it and share it with others also.

SONG IDEAS:

1. ’Jesus You’re My Superhero’ by Hillsong Kids or you could use the ‘Superhero’ video by Summit Creative Company
2. ‘Super Wonderful’ by Yancy
3. ‘My God is Number One’ by Yancy

GAME IDEAS:

1. Kryptonite Disposal. (regular/widescreen) Ball up some aluminum foil (tin foil) and paint it green. Hand each team two sticks and some kryptonite balls. They must use the sticks to pick up the kryptonite and dispose of them at the end of the line in a basket or tub. This can be done in relay fashion. The team with the most disposed of kryptonite at the end of the race is the winning team.
2. Super Speedy Relay. (regular/widescreen) Children are given a set of cups and must try and put them into a pyramid as fast as they can before pulling them down, back into a stack. However, they must do this in relay style, so each child gets one cup to stack until the whole team has built a huge pyramid. If the pyramid falls down at any point, the team must start all over again. The team with the highest pyramid at the end of the game is the winning team.
3. The Incredible Challenge. (regular/widescreen) Using the review questions, children compete to race to the leader with the answer to each question. However, they must do an activity as they run to the leader; such as hop, skip, jump or bounce a ball etc The fastest team with the most correct answers is the winning team.

BIG VERSE: “FOR GREAT IS THE LORD AND GREATLY TO BE PRAISED.” PSALM 96:4A (NLT)

Download Bible cards.

Big Verse images: (regular/widescreen)

SET the Scene:

Read Luke 15:11-32. 

VIDEO IDEAS:

1. ‘The Prodigal Son’ by Saddleback Kids
2. ‘God’s Son: Two Sons and a Father’ by Crossroads Kids Club
3. ‘The Lost Son’ by Max7

You could also use the Incredible Forgiveness Skit.

SPOT the Simple Meaning:

Say: Wasn’t that story incredible?! Jesus taught the people about forgiveness through the story of the two sons.

You see, we have all done something wrong and BLUE it in our lives. [Show the blue light up.] Maybe we said something nasty to someone, or thought something mean or maybe we did something unkind that upset somebody else. The son in the story turned his back on his father. When we do wrong things it is like we are turning our back on our loving Father God.

Yet Jesus teaches us that when we turn back to God – just as the son turned back to his father, we are given new life in Jesus! [Show the green page] Just as the son in the story was given a new ring and a robe, Jesus tells us that we are God’s royalty and He is our King when we choose to follow Him. [show purple page of the book]

So all those wrong and nasty things we have done can be wiped away. We can have a clean slate. We can say sorry and we can be forgiven! All our wrongs are washed away. [Show the white page of the book].

How is all this possible? Well, it’s pretty incredible! The Bible tells us that Jesus came to earth and lived a perfect life. Yet he died and rose again three days later. You see, when we do something wrong there is always a punishment, but do you think Jesus ever did anything wrong? [Get feedback] I don’t! Jesus lived a perfect life – never doing anything wrong! He chose to die so that we could be forgiven. He was punished so that we don’t have to be punished! So you see, it is through the blood of Jesus [show red page] that we are forgiven and that we can know God!

REVIEW QUESTIONS:

1. How many sons did the father in the story have? (two)
2. Which son went away from his father in the story? (youngest)
3. What did he ask for before he went? (money/inheritance)
4. What did he spend the money on? (parties)What did he do when he had no money left? (remembered his father/went home)
5. What did his dad do for him when he saw him? (ran to him/threw a party/ring and robe)
6. Who is the Father in the story like? (God)

SEARCH the Scriptures:

FORGIVENESS FRENZY. (regular/widescreen) You will need: bucket or tub of slime (available from MessySupplies.com or you could use baff baff from Amazon) and printed bible verses about forgiveness. A wash bucket with cloths would also come in handy!

Alternatively you could use any messy type of food… think custard or beans! Forgiveness bible verses are laminated and hidden in slime/messy food. Your children are split into teams and must retrieve the verses in a relay fashion.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. What does it mean to forgive?
2. When was the last time you had to forgive someone?
3. Do you find it easy to forgive? Why/why not?
4. Who can give us the power to forgive?
5. Have you ever asked Jesus for forgiveness? Why/why not?
6. Why is forgiveness a good thing?
7. Have you ever been forgiven by someone? How did it make you feel?

SENSE How You Feel:

Imagine you were the son in the story.

How did it feel to be forgiven by your father?

Encourage the children to think about their answer to this question as they do one or more of the activities below.

1. Create superhero capes. Using plain material or white sheets, have children color the material with fabric pens. Cut a hole into the material for the child’s head.
2. Make the superhero headband. Print the superhero headband printable.  The child will color it, cut it out and stick the pieces end to end before securing it with tape. You can always cut ends off to measure it to size.
3. Superhero biscuits. Buy cookies (biscuits) that the children can ice with different superhero colored icing. To make them extra special you could even order edible toppers from Amazon or eBay with superhero faces on them.
4. Color/Fill in the Incredible Forgiveness booklet 5-7s and 8-11s.
5. Check out our Prodigal Son Pinterest board for more ideas.

SEEK God:

Say: It isn’t always easy to forgive. But one of the best things is to know that God forgives us for anything! All we need to do is ask and trust that He forgives us. It can feel horrible and messy when we do wrong things… we know in our hearts that we shouldn’t have done it. Yet when we ask God to forgive us He washes all those bad feelings away and helps us to remember that He loves us and that we are made new in Him.

PRAYER RESPONSE:

You will need some washable pens (test them before you use them!), paper, buckets with soapy water inside and some dry cloths.

Say: We’re going to take some time now to ask Jesus to forgive us and make us new. Let’s thank Him for all He has done so that we can be forgiven and we can know our Father God.

Wash it Away. The children will write something on the paper that they want forgiveness for. Then they will wash it in the bucket of water and dry their hands.

Prayer:

Thank You God that You forgive me. Thank You that even though I do wrong things, You love me and You sent Your only Son Jesus so that I can be forgiven and I can know You. I’m sorry for the wrong things I do. Help me to live a life that pleases You. Amen.

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