“Jesus Loves Everyone” Luke 19

Props:

·         Pictures of Despicable me characters

·         World map

·         Flipchart and pen

·         Jesus storybook bible “The man who didn’t have any friends (none)”

Something to Say

Today we’re going to talk about friends and I wanted to ask:

·         Who has a best friend?

·         What do you like about your best friend? (walk around and repeat what the group says)

We’re going to do a quiz to see if you would like to be the best friend of the following people:

Something to Show: Baddies v’s Goodies Despicable me Game:

Has anyone seen Despicable me? 1 and 2?

We’re going to play a game and I need your help! We’re going to see what we think –who would like to be the best friend of: (put up Despicable me pics). Let’s have some votes! Write on a flipchart the votes for each of the characters - Tally up the scored votes to see who is more popular, (Agnes scores the most on both occasions!)

·         Agnes: Sweet and cute

·         Margo: Smart and caring

·         Gru: is a convicted criminal and now wants to steel the moon (imagine Gru from the start of Despicable me 1)

·         Dr Nefario: is helping Gru to steel the moon

·         Vector: is a convicted criminal who has stolen the Pyramids

But what happens to the baddies (like Gru at the beginning). Who wants to be their friend? What do you think Jesus would say to these baddies? Lets watch a story about a man who stole and didn’t have any friends. Let’s see what Jesus does...

A story about a man who stole...

Let’s watch a story about a man who didn’t have any friends...

·         Title “The man who didn’t have any friends (none)”

·         The Story of Zacchaeus The tax collector  Luke 19

WOW! Even though he stole from people, even though people didn’t like him because he stole from them and kept the money, *he recognised who Jesus was* and he saw that what he had done was wrong. He promised to pay back to people FOUR times the amount he owed them! Jesus loved Zacchaeus and cared for him, even though he had done bad things. *Jesus still had time for him and wanted to be his friend even when no-one else did! You see, Jesus loves everyone!*

Something to Pray:

·         Pray for people in the world who do bad things like steeling from the poor, to know Jesus, and to know what they are doing is wrong. Jesus loves us no matter what we do, He just asks for us to be his friend.

·         Put out the world map and get children to pray for each of the countries if they need help add “Dear Jesus, we pray for people who steal from the poor to know you and know what they are doing is wrong”

·         Ask the children to lie down and ask the Holy Spirit to come. See what words and pictures He gives the children. Recap in a group.

A verse to remember:  Ephesians 2: 8-9 “for it is by Grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the Gift of God, not by works, so that no-one can boast”