AIM: TO TEACH KIDS THAT GOD WANTS TO TRANSFORM YOU INTO PEOPLE THAT FORGIVE OTHERS LIKE HE FORGAVE YOU!
SONG IDEAS:
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GAME IDEAS:
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BIG VERSE: Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Colossians 3:13
SET the Scene:
Create skit to tell the story
SPOT the Simple Meaning:
1. OBJECT LESSON: GOD HAS FORGIVEN US MASSIVELY!
Huge heart or cross – get kids to write on post it notes things that God has forgiven them for. If struggling leaders can add lots on it too and ask kids to think of things God might have to forgive others for.
We said this morning that God has forgiven us and we all need God’s forgiveness. But don’t forget we still need to receive his forgiveness. The parable showed us that the servant first accepted his debt being paid. He didn’t try to pay back the master anyway, he believed and received the Master’s forgiveness. The parable also shows us that the Master forgave his servant a huge sum of money! The servant would have owed him lots and lots of money, but instead of having to pay it back he told the servant to forget about it because his debt was paid. Likewise God says we have been forgiven MASSIVELY! God hasn’t just had to forgive us once or twice but many times each and every day because we often do things that hurt others.
2. OBJECT LESSON: GOD WANTS US TO FORGIVE LIKE HE FORGAVE US
Skit: 2 people hitting each other constantly. 3rd person comes up to them and asks why they are hitting each other. One says because they started it, or because they have been hurt.
When someone does something to hurt us we naturally want to get them back. However, the skit showed us that if all we ever do is get back at one another the argument or fight never ends. We can waste a lot of time going backwards and forwards and never moving anywhere or doing anything great for God! Jesus taught us to forgive. That means instead of fighting back we stop and don’t hit back anymore. Even though it does matter to us we ask God to help us forgive and walk away from the fight. Jesus taught everyone to forgive. In fact when asked how many times we should forgive he said 70 x 7. That means 490 times! That doesn’t mean once we hit 490 times we can kill them – Jesus means that we should keep forgiving. Not that we should let people hurt us over and over but that we should forgive them when they do and walk away if we need to.
3. OBJECT LESSON: ANYTHING THAT WE FORGIVE IS SMALL IN COMPARISON
Pictures of a hurting people (on cards) and a picture of Jesus on the cross. Forgiveness poem.
It can be tough to forgive someone if they have hurt or upset you. Maybe someone has picked on you, called you names or bullied you in class. It may make you feel like these people in these pictures (show images on cards). It doesn’t feel nice at all when someone does something to hurt you. Maybe you feel like you want to get revenge; hurt them back, or hold a grudge against them by not talking to them for a while. It makes you feel like you are holding on very tightly to those things they have done (hold on tightly to the images). When you hold on tightly to those things it makes it very difficult to do other things (try doing things whilst holding onto all the images -under your arms etc). We can’t thank God or praise Him or think good things about the person who wronged us because we know that God has told us to forgive. That doesn’t necessarily mean forgetting what they have done but it does mean letting it go. (let go of the images) When we let go of the things they have done then we are able to do the things we couldn’t do before.
Now can you imagine if God held onto His hurts instead of forgiving us. (Put image of Jesus on cross on screen). Imagine if He held tightly to this, or if Jesus never forgave people for doing this to him. Yet Jesus forgave even while he was on the cross – he said – “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do”. Now, if Jesus could forgive us for causing him to have to die, and if the Father can forgive us for having to watch his son die then surely we can forgive others for what they have done to us. That’s because anything that we forgive is much smaller than what God has forgiven us for! That’s why the Master in the parable was so angry with the servant for not forgiving the 2nd servant like the Master had forgiven him. Because the Master forgave so much the servant should have wanted to forgive too.
RESPONSE: Do you need to forgive or be forgiven? Here’s your chance!
Little hearts to hang on the tree. Help me to forgive… please forgive me for …
